Animal Architecture

Take a look at Zaha Hadid Architects’ dog house design

While Zaha Hadid Architects’ 666 Fifth Avenue Tower is in legitimate peril, fans of the architect have something to cheer, or in some cases, howl about. The firm has designed its first dog kennel, a cocoon-like, CNC milled plywood design called “Cloud.” Designed for BowWow Haus London, a public exhibition that will aid UK pet charity Blue Cross for Pets, ZHA’s barkitecture is slightly elevated above the ground to protect dogs from cold floor surfaces.

Other architects and artists participating in BowWow Haus London—most of them located in London and surrounding cities— have created dog houses that range from frilly traditional to austere modernist to flat-out psychedelic. Jia-hao Syu’s Bark-alona Pavilion comes with a small reflecting pool/ water bowl and a structurally exposed glass roof; Denise Jaques’ Mosaic Happy is covered in a kaleidoscope of colorful mosaic tiles; and Ivan Djidjev’s is basically a doggy Greek Temple. See more designs in the gallery above. The completed designs will be displayed at venues around London starting early next year, and will be auctioned at a gala in late spring.